Even though Maria was irked by what the soldier was implying they would do, she replied in a calm demeanour. " Oh it's fine you don't have to apologise but now that I have answered any questions you had, I am going to go look for my brother and Luis."
"oh yes I am sorry for the hold up I hope he didn't get lost"
A few minutes ago when Luis had run out to the forest.
Luis took some cautious steps as he entered the forest away from the sound of the festival. As he went further and further out he soundly heard the clearest whisper he's heard before " you're too weak sheltered kid,…. Watch out" dazed by the whisper because he couldn't understand if it came from someone else or from the whispers he heard because they have never been understandable before. He didn't notice the two creatures approaching.
Before he could react sand was flying at his eyes. Just barely closing his eyes after a bit of sand got in his eyes, to not let more in he winced in pain. "Ughh, my eyes sting". As his eyes were closed he suddenly felt scratches that were happening to his legs, having not experienced a lot of pain before he fell to his knees. As he fell down and was in pain he did what his dad had always told him if you need to strengthen a body part to defend or attack make your aura go their.
Following that advice he sent aura to his legs and eyes which made the pain subside a bit allowing him to open his eyes. What he saw was 2 sand rats, he remembered them because he had studied about them in school as they would show up in the forests near the villages, a reason why there would be adults if kids ever wanted to play in the forest.
Still reeling in pain he remembered about what they did, they had a small aura pool so once every minute they would launch sand from their mouths to blind a target and then attack.
Seeing that there were 2 he realised one did not use the sand attack yet. Luis saw one of them open its mouth he quickly used his hand while on his knees to cover his eyes. He blocked the attack but wasn't able to block the other rat from scratching his arms. However Luis had moved aura to his arms to fully block the sand which also helped in stopping the rat from scratching him.
As Luis quickly grabbed a stick to try and attack the rat near him, it moved out of the way and before he could try and even follow it the other attacked making him focus on putting aura just for defense. Making it so he was not able to attack them.
A few more seconds after blocking 2 rocks came flying in full speed they crashed into the rats killing them.
Rico who was in the festival having sensed the aura and knowing that the small amount had to be Luis's instantly ran over. After seeing Luis he instantly grabbed 2 rocks channeled aura and threw them.
While Luis was surprised by what just happened he heard Rico's mad but worried voice right beside him.
"Luis are you okay did you get any big injuries"
Luis replied in a hesitant tone because he was not supposed to go in the forest. "Oh no they just scratched my legs but I was able to protect myself with aura."
Rico after confirming Luis did not have any major injuries looked at him angrily. "LUIS why are you in the forest! You said you were gonna go to the forest"
Luis in a apologetic tone and not wanting to make eye contact " I saw something shiny so I wanted it to see what it was" the one thing Luis did not want to do was break the promise he made with his parents so he lied about why he went to the forest.
Rico caught off guard stuttered a bit "wha… what just because you saw something SHINY!!!"
Before he could continue Maria arrived, she arrived by using aura to strengthen her hearing one of her specialties. She had already heard half the conversation on her way to them.
"Rico the one thing I tell you to is to go find Luis and you couldn't even do that fast enough, (clicking her tongue") never mind that Luis since when did you start doing dumb stuff like this, actually never mind that as well let's treat your wounds first."
"Rico go tell his parents what happened and about why, you and me let that happen okayyyy"
Rico understanding that she meant both the reasons instantly went to inform the elders in the village about what happened.
As Rico was leaving Luis said in a apologetic tone "sorry Maria I should not have gone to the forest"
Maria stared at him and smiled and said "that's fine, we can discuss that later but first let me treat your wounds"